Adobe joins Linux Foundation

Could this be the first step to a version of Photoshop for Linux? Perhaps it's too early to say, but the fact remains: Adobe has joined the Linux Foundation. As PC World reports, the software firm announced its move together with the alpha release of its Adobe Integrated Runtime (AIR) web application platform for Linux.

The AIR platform is a runtime environment that combines Adobe Flash, Adobe Flex, HTML, and Ajax (asynchronous JavaScript and XML) technologies and allows developers to roll web applications into full-featured desktop apps. Companies working with AIR today include AOL, eBay, NASDAQ, and Nickelodeon. The AIR runtime runs on Mac OS X and Windows, but Adobe says the new Linux version is "alpha quality" and not yet feature-complete. For now, Linux users will have to do without functionality like printing, multi-monitor support, and digital rights management support in AIR applications.

Despite having officially joined the likes of Google, HP, IBM, and Nokia in the ranks of the Linux Foundation, Adobe is withholding the source code for AIR. Furthermore, as PC World points out, the license agreement for the Linux version of AIR forbids attempts to "reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble or otherwise attempt to discover the source code of the software."